Forget 2012 prophecies, Mayan calendars and lurking planets that go only by the name “X”… there’s an even kookier conspiracy theory in town, and it has to do with our nation’s fearless leader and his teenage teleportation adventures on Mars.

Yes, you read that right.

It seems that two government employees and self-professed time-travelers – er, “chrononauts” – Andrew D. Basiago and William Stillings have come forth and named President Obama as one of their own, along with the current head of DARPA, Regina Dugan.

(DARPA, if you don’t know, is the agency responsible for keeping U.S. defense up-t0-date with advancements in technology. Begun as a response to the Sputnik program in the late 50s, DARPA finds ways to integrate cutting-edge tech developments into stuff the military might want.)

Basiago, a Washington state lawyer, says that he was part of a time travel program developed by DARPA in the 1970s code-named Project Pegasus. He and Stillings claim that both Obama and Dugan were in their “Mars training class” at California’s College of the Siskiyous in 1980, part of a group of 10 young adults chosen to travel to Mars via a top-secret teleportation “jump room”.

They also claim that the then-19-year-old Barack Obama went by the name “Barry Soetero”.

But wait, there’s more.

"I'll beam ya down Mister President but I'll have to see your birth certificate first." (Photo via startrek.com)

The two former chrononauts also said that they encountered the future president at secret U.S. bases on Mars, which he is said to have visited twice between the years 1981 and 1983. On one instance Basiago said he even exchanged words with Ob – uh, Soetero – en route to the “jump room” while on Mars.

“We’re here,” Basiago claims the young president-to-be said to him.

And the supposed reason for the secret teen task force’s Red Planet expedition? To “acclimate Martian humanoids and animals to their presence,” according to Basiago.

You know, to make good with the locals so there’d be no trouble when setting up camp.

White House officials have denied all allegations of the President’s Martian travels, or the existence of a Mars training class. But, of course, they would.

And you thought the whole birther thing was a bit extreme? Wake up sheeple, this is some real crazy here. Chrononaut style.

Get over yourselves…really stupid conspiracy theories can make your day, and I certainly found this funny.

If you can’t see it that way then this certainly works as a reminder of what you get when you accept bad data: this story comes from the same place as stories about Mars soon being the size of the full moon. Anytime you read about new scientific data you should remember that it is fragile, and at any moment someone might start doing things “chrononaut style”.

Get over yourselves…really stupid conspiracy theories can make your day, and I certainly found this funny.

If you can’t see it that way then this certainly works as a reminder of what you get when you accept bad data: this story comes from the same place as stories about Mars soon being the size of the full moon. Anytime you read about new scientific data you should remember that it is fragile, and at any moment someone might start doing things “chrononaut style”.

Trolling can mean a lot of things. If trolling isn’t the right word, then bothered might be the right one. When people care about a site, they read everything. The people who care want to solve a problem for ever, that’s why they post there/here.

I call bullshit about scrolling past stories. Clearly, something controversial is happening here and it needs to be fixed. I don’t want it happening on UT. It happens like every half-year. I still remember Iranian UFO. It doesn’t suit UT and the right people should be vaccinated, not the immune ones.

While I agree with you that articles like this could use with slightly better labeling, on the other hand I think even the batshit crazy ideas deserve to be checked via Scientific Method. You know, just in case the crackpots might actually be on to something for once. 😉

The White House commented on this?! I wish, when a waste-of-time response from on high came in, they’d have a laugh with it and say something like “Wh… Wha! How did you find out?! Cat’s out of the bag, citizens”! 🙂

If these guys have already been to Mars and acclimated the Marsian population to humans, why are we wasting all that money sending Curiousity there? It just doesn’t make sense…wait a second, it’s to cover up the fact that they went to Mars so many years ago. I get it. Clever, very clever. Kind of like how Reagan wasted billions of dollars on his star wars program, just to get the Soviets to spend lots of money and collapse their economy. Sneaky.

And it’s no surprise. Important though it may be to those like us, no Presidential candidate ever won or lost on their space policy, if any. It’s WAY down the list of issue priorities for the majority of US citizens.

And it’s no surprise. Important though it may be to those like us, no Presidential candidate ever won or lost on their space policy, if any. It’s WAY down the list of issue priorities for the majority of US citizens.

I TOTALLY disagree. Those of us in the space journalism industry have learned that crazy conspiracy theories need to be debunked aggressively and openly, using every new media tool at our disposal. We want the skeptical view to reach minds as quickly as the conspiratorial/nonsense view.

I get dozens of emails a week from people freaked out of their minds about how they think the world is going to come to an end in 2012. It’s our job to tear apart the nonsense and clarify the science. And if you don’t think that’s journalism, we’ll have to disagree.

You think that ignoring these memes makes them go away, but you’re wrong. It makes them stronger.

While there are many silly conspiracy theories, there are many more organized groups actively trying to harm science education in much deeper ways. I sympathize with Geko solely in that he knows there are more dangerous people than these nutters.

Come on, ya’ll… This stance of debunking the nutses is a part of UT’s model. Popularizing science definitely has unpopularizing pseudo-science as an obviously necessary agenda point. Listen to what Fraser is saying.

Unsurprisingly, I totally agree with Fraser on this one. It was my stance before writing for the Universe Today that to “feed the trolls” was a silly move. Why debunk their obviously unhinged theories? Sadly, doomsayers, crackpots and con men with a book to sell will butcher science to dress up their silly claims. If these people go unchecked, to a non-science audience they may appear to have a point. I see it as the responsibility of scientists and the science media to call-out the nonsense whenever they see it.

But the responsibility doesn’t end there. Whenever possible, the mechanism of debunking should be a positive experience for the reader. The news media is always on the lookout for a news “hook,” so in the process of debunking claims of Nibiru, say, the science media can spend time discussing how NASA’s WISE mission is currently viewing the universe in infrared — an emission that a celestial body like Nibiru or “Planet X” would be generating. WISE hasn’t spotted any rampaging brown dwarfs or killer asteroids in Earth’s neighborhood recently.

Obviously, that leaves us open to the “conspiracy” crowd who will accuse us of being agents for NASA’s coverups… alas there’s little hope of convincing those guys as they appear to lack the grasp of basic logic.

Fraser Cain, I totally agree. You state the case much more eloquently than I. I don’t see anything wrong with aggressively debunking these theories. By gathering data and examining all of the available facts, we can quickly and properly access the validity (if any) of the claims. This type of rapid “fact based” response will ultimately (in my opinion) bring more credibility to the scientific community and “hopefully” encourage future theorist to more aggressively investigate the facts before presenting their theories.

I am not much cognizant of this subject, but as a private citizen I could fall down in either camp:

– It think there is enough statistics and behavioral/political science that says open and forthright positions are a winning strategy. Hence tone trolling is not helpful.

– I don’t think that forthrightness automatically translates to covering every piece of trash out there, even if it was practically possible.

For example, you still see blogs devoted to the whole purpose not only of informing about evolution science and the failings of creationism but to cover every “week in creationism”. (Yes, the Panda’s Thumb, I am looking at you!)

That, and the similar early willingness of scientists to debate creationists, gives these anti-science projects an unwarranted sanction as measured by the crank comments energized by it. Today most scientists do not give such easy handouts to the cranks. And of course UT is far from such a failure in communications.

I guess I need to see a convincing line between stated blog policies and the specific crank issue raised.

I’m a huge fan of UT, without UT I might not have rediscovered my love of astronomy, which had sat dormant for many years. I should probably nick-name my telescopes “Fraser” and “Pamela” since it was Astronomy Cast that made me finally jump into a purchase. It makes me giggle like a smitten school girl when my crude images find there way on to this site.

So I don’t mean to be picky, but really this article mildly ridicules the ideas if not also the conspirators. It doesn’t debunk their claims at all aside from the White House blanket denial.

Not that I mind some well deserved ridicule of crackpots, I definitely fall closer to PZ Myers than I do to Phil Plait on the DBAD issue 🙂

I admit to mild ridicule, as the author of the above. I felt the claims were so outlandish that outright debunking would be unnecessary. Granted, it’s not a full-blown investigation of the committees and persons involved, but my motives were not “trollish” at all. I more than assume that the readers of UT are all informed enough to know how silly this all is.

I admit to mild ridicule, as the author of the above. I felt the claims were so outlandish that outright debunking would be unnecessary. Granted, it’s not a full-blown investigation of the committees and persons involved, but my motives were not “trollish” at all. I more than assume that the readers of UT are all informed enough to know how silly this all is.

Booo. I wouldn’t run stories like this simply because any attention given to conspiracy theories, good or bad, just empowers the ill people behind them and points new suckers in their direction.

Sure it’s a funny chuckle, but this kind of thing is why we have idiots fighting to eliminate Wi-Fi in schools and threatening to sue my local government and organize recalls to kick out elected people over the non-issue of Smart Meters.

Your claim is not informed on science blogs in the first place, seeing that statistics says the science community and those most interested in science are mainly liberal in the first place. So that is what you should expect, everything else alike.

Also of importance is that US “leftwing” liberals is ~= most nations conservatives.

That said, conspiracy theories are always fun to hear about. It’s the time I get to raise my hand, point, and giggle in unity with the rest of the world at those that take them seriously.
To date, how many conspiracy theories have been made, and how many of them have actually proved to be correct?
Just another bunch of guys wanting to make an easy buck with their story.

But, then again, nothing’s impossible. Perhaps Mr Bush is also a Martian in disguise!
But seriously, I wonder what their angle in this is…

This is a great story, my views are that this could of actually happend. When you look at all the corruption we see in the world, and all the lies that we re told by the goverment. How many times have we seen new technologys just appear out of knowhere. The goverment want us to believe that we are just a standard community, but when we look at all the advances in technology that our military holds, then you can ask the questions.